.325 WSM

I have now exceeded one thousand rounds through this cartridge, 680 through the beautiful GA Precision rifle, 260 through a new Winchester M-70 Ult. Shadow and at least 150 rounds through the original prototype M-70 that I hunted with in Alaska with Winchester.

Talked to Mike Rock the other day and he said we might expect close to 5000 rounds of very good accuracy through these cartridge, particularly with his 5R barrels. My Rock barreled M-70 from GA is shooting very nice, seemed to take about 3-350 rounds to get it really performing. Took a while but now it cleans up very quickly, accuracy is sweet up to about 30 rounds and then it needs a cleaning.
Nice cartridge, kills critters, I like it.

We just recieved our first loaded ammo the other day so of course I had to open a box and take a peek. Looks very interesting. Now if we can just get some high bc bullets to reload, we'll be in business.

On a side note, how do you like the 5r barrel? I understand the grooves and lands are slightly undersized. Notice any more copper fouling than normal? ANy truth to the longer barrel life story?

Jim,
This barrel has really come around recently. Needed a lot of cleaning, did not seem to like the factory coated CT bullets that much. Now it is shooting Accubonds and Ballistic Tips very well and cleans up as almost as easy as my .308's as far as patches and effort.

As for 5R, we have several of Mike's barrels going and they are superb. They are remarkable for their ease of cleaning, which I assume has something to do with smoothness. One .308 Win. barrel in particular has had a lot of rounds through it in the last 3 years, probably 5-6000 rounds and it is a tackdriver. My buddy has the log on it so I am not sure what the round count on it is, but it gets shot hot and lots and keeps shooting sub 1/2 moa if we can hold on good. That barrel will shoot well after 70 rounds without cleaning, but we try to clean after every 40. How long will they last - I just haven't got there yet. I keep good logs on my barrels so will keep you informed.

I just sized and primed every piece of .325 WSM brass, that is over 940 and I got the blisters to prove it. Thank heavens for APS primer strips, my RCBS hand-tool will prime once every two seconds. Going to do a bunch of load-testing shortly, have accumulated a good selection of bullet styles to run through the two rifles. Will chronograph all the combinations - should be interesting. Might have these rifles shot-out before hunting season! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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Jim,
I just sized and primed every piece of .325 WSM brass, that is over 940 and I got the blisters to prove it. Thank heavens for APS primer strips, my RCBS hand-tool will prime once every two seconds. Going to do a bunch of load-testing shortly, have accumulated a good selection of bullet styles to run through the two rifles. Will chronograph all the combinations - should be interesting. <font color="blue"> Might have these rifles shot-out before hunting season! </font> [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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I cannot wait until that is a concern of mine!!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]